


mercenary measures

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: me sobbing about critical role [73]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Other, Pen Pals, it aint great but its quick, listen it's strongly implied that yeza had to watch goblins eat his neighbors, one of which was a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 10:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18445025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: the mighty nein save yeza, and veth makes a friend(s)





	mercenary measures

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Diverged Paths](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18424155) by [TwinVax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinVax/pseuds/TwinVax). 



> this is a continuation of TwinVax's fic Diverged Paths; while you can probably read this without reading that first, my fic is a direct continuation of it. plus, its a good fic, so. go. read it.

By the time they find the goblin camp, cause a distraction, kill most of the goblins, and get the halfling woman’s husband out- they’d realized slightly too late that they’d never gotten his name- the sun is setting. They’ve been walking in silence for a while, trying to find a place to make camp that’s far enough from the ruined goblin camp.

Eventually, they find a spot, and Jester turns to the halfling. He startles at her excitement.

“So! I really, really hope you are the halfling we are looking for, because we are already not getting a ton of gold- not that we’re only doing it for the gold, of course, but you know, what is _your_ name? I’m Jester!”

He stares at her, blinking rapidly, for a solid three seconds before he responds. “I- uh, my, my name’s Yeza? Brenatto? What do you mean gold? How did you, back there… gold?”

Jester calls over to the others- “You guys! We got the right halfling!” she turns back to Yeza, “Your wife hired us!”

“ _My wife’s alright?_ ” he breathes, and when Jester nods, the tension in his shoulders loosens, and he starts walking a little closer to the main camp- that, and it’s starting to get chilly, and they have a fire going.

He’s holding his hands over the fire when one of the other ladies speak- a human in some sort of robes. “So, how the fuck did you end up getting kidnapped by goblins? And how come you’re still alive?” she asks, voice gruff, although the image is somewhat ruined by the loud slurping noise she makes as she swallows what he supposes is dinner.

He takes a spoonful from his own bowl before answering. “Well, I think it was maybe a month ago, you may’ve heard Felderwin got attacked?”

She nods, and even though she’s slouching, her eyes belie a sharpness that kind of reminds him of his sister, when she smells a secret. “Yeah, we heard about that- Xhorhas tunneled in, right?”

He grimaces slightly, remembering how terrifying it was, how it had felt like the very earth was going to fall out from under them, how scared Luke had been, how scared _everyone_ had been- “Yeah, well, we’re still rebuilding, and there’re goblins in the wood across the river. Normally, they don’t dare cross over, but since all the guards are occupied, they’ve been getting braver, and a few days ago, they sent in their biggest raiding party yet,” he stops again, and clears his throat, “They took me, and- two others. One of them was- our neighbor, and she’d been out on a walk with her daughter, when-” he stops, and tries to stop picturing the gory scenes he’d witnessed in the tent.

“They decided to leave me for last,” is all he says, and the camp is quiet.

Yeza finishes his soup awkwardly, and then turns to the closest of his rescuers, a human man in a very, very dirty coat, with a cat draped across his lap.

“Um, excuse me, Mr-, uh? The tiefling woman, she, ah, she mentioned my wife? Did you see her? Was she hurt?”

The man takes a second before he responds, and when he does, he speaks in an accent Yeza’s _pretty sure_ is Zemnian, although he’s not heard it enough to be sure. “Oh, ah. I am Caleb. Widogast. And she looked, er, fine? She was not- she had no burns, or-,” the man trails off, and despite the stilted delivery, Yeza appreciates the reassurance.

Exhaustion hits, and Yeza curls up in the roots of a nearby tree, taking the blanket Jester offers.

* * *

 

They reach Felderwin just at noon. Fjord- the half orc- asks Yeza to lead the way, and he has never been so happy to return to Old Edith’s. She answers the door, and he speaks right away, anxious to see for himself his family is alright. “Edith, it’s me, where is my wife?”

She looks surprised to see him, although understanding crosses her face when she sees the armed, _colorful_ people behind him. “Ah, well, she’s just in the back room here, and oh, I’ll say she’ll be happy to see you, Yeza,” Edith chats as they amble down her cozy hallways.

The tall man, pink hair, whose species Yeza cannot place, has to crouch to fit through, even in Edith’s human-sized house. Yeza can’t help but notice how thin he is, and it makes him want to sit him down and feed him full of pastries- Yeza may not be able to cook worth a copper, but he can bake a darn good beignet. An inexplicable blush dusts his cheeks when he is caught staring, and he coughs and hurries on.

The guest room’s door is open, and Veth gasps when she sees him. In short order, his family is squeezing him tightly, Luc wrapped around his legs and Veth’s face buried in his neck. He takes a moment to let himself bask in their love, before they seperate.

Veth sees the mercenaries in the doorway, and puts a hand on her hip. “Well, you came through after all. Here’s your money,” she tosses them a pouch that clinks with coins that the human woman he’d talked to yesterday catches easily.

Jester skips up to Veth. “You know, we’re going to be staying here for like, another day, you should totally come hang out!”

Yeza can see a smile beginning to curl onto Veth’s face. “Hmm. We’ll see. Normally, I’d invite you to dinner, but I’m afraid our home is ashes, right now.” The last part of her sentence is quieter, to keep from upsetting Luke, but the reminder does make Yeza frown.

He has no idea how they’re going to rebuild the apothecary. The pink man- Yeza really should have asked his name- taps Fjord on the shoulder, and they slip out.

Jester and Veth continue talking, and Yeza goes over to the bed and picks up Luc. It’s much better, now that he has his family with him. He only realizes the group had left when they all come crowding back in. The pink man, Caduceus, Veth said, walks over to them. “We’d love for you to have this. We don’t actually know much gold building an apothecary costs, unfortunately, but hopefully it helps?”

There is- a _lot_ of gold in Caduceus’ hand. Veth and Yeza share a look, and Veth takes it, suspicion and gratitude warring in her eyes.

“I- thank you? Why-?” Yeza agrees. This is- _what?_ Whoever heard of mercenaries that paid _you_?

Caduceus smiles, and Yeza blushes (although, from the corner of his eyes, he can see Veth blushing too, and he feels better).

“Ah, well, our group has a bit of a, philosophy, you could say- ‘ _leave it better than you found it_ ’, and we can make up the money pretty easy.”

* * *

 

They leave, after that, with Jester promising to write often. The gold is more than enough to rebuild the apothecary, and it’s been maybe three weeks since the mercenaries saved him, when Veth gets the letter. It’s written on thick parchment that smells like lavender and another spice he can’t place, and the ink is a bright, nearly illegible green.

The letters continue, with varying frequency. Apparently, the Nein travel a lot, mostly through places that don’t have couriers, so Veth just sends her letters to Zadash so Jester can pick them up when they swing through. She tells him about the adventures described in the letters, and sometimes they shake their heads together at the antics they get into.

It’s been nearly five months since the first letter, when Jester and her friends come to visit. They’ve arrived just in time for Harvest Close, and Veth invites them all along, if only to see the looks on people’s faces when she walks around with such colorful strangers.

It’s nice, and it gives her a chance to get to know the others better. She knows their names, of course, Beau, the monk, Fjord, Yasha, Caleb, and Caduceus, but it’s nice to know _them_. They cram into her and Yeza’s home afterwards- she is a damn good host, no way in the nine hells is she allowing her guests to sleep at an _inn_ when she has a perfectly suitable guest room(s).

The visits become a thing, after that, whenever the Mighty Nein swing through, and others start writing letters too. Caleb and Yeza write pages of jargon at each other every week, and Beau scribbles notes in the margins of Jester’s letter.

Figures, their friends would be just as eclectic as them.

**Author's Note:**

> edited 7/4/19


End file.
